1920.] Birds of the Canary Tslands. 550 



twenty years ;igo, wlien we liad much less ni;itcri;il to guide 

 us) to include the Canary Archipelago in the Palaearctic 

 Region. 



Connexion between the Birds of the Canaries and the other 

 Atlantic Archipelagos. 



The connexion Ijetween the birds of the North Atlantic 

 islands can only be kept up by the migratory species. 

 Communication of the Resident Birds has, I believe, lon<r 

 ceased to exist, except^ perhaps, in one or two doubtful cases, 

 such as the Woodcock and the Courser — the migratory move- 

 ments of which, if they take place at all, are quite unknown. 

 It must be borne in mind, however, that Woodcocks are 

 found in some numbers in the Azores as well as in the 

 Canary Islands, and that the Courser is found in the Ca})e 

 Verde Islands as uell as in the Canaries, and that those 

 birds inhabiting the one group of islands are not in any 

 way distinguishable from those inhabiting the other grouj) 

 or from the typical Continental forms. 



The Azores lie so far out of the line of flight of migrating 

 birds that these islands can hardly be considered in this 

 connexion, but it is worth noting how Guppy, when 

 working out the affinities of the Azorean flora, regarded 

 the connexion between the plants of the woods of the 

 Azores and the Canaries as kept up. This he attributed to 

 the activities in recent times of (rugivorous birds — a con- 

 clusion which points, in Guppy^s opinion, to the intercom- 

 munication between the Azores and Canaries of fruit-eatiuir 

 species — in my opinion more proljably of ground-nesting 

 species, such as the Woodcock and Quail, for it is well 

 known how such birds carry the seeds of plants on the 

 mud or earth which becomes attached to the feet or tarsi, or 

 even to the feathers. 



The Resident birds common to the Azores and Canaries 

 are only four in number: the Least Goldfinch, the Canary, 

 an aberrant Blackcap, and the Woodcock already mentioned, 

 but these show, particularly the Canary and Blackcap, 

 that at one time there must have been some connexion 



